App Annie: Mobile games consumer spending reached $116bn in 2021
Strategy, MMORPG, and RPGs were the highest earning categories last year
Today App Annie reported that consumer spending on mobile games reached $116 billion globally in 2021.
This figure represents an increase of 15% year-over-year compared to 2020, according to its State of Mobile 2022 report.
It also shows gaming represents the majority of consumer spending on mobile, with total spending reported as $170 billion across all apps last year.
In regards to games, Roblox, Genshin Impact, and Coin Master were the highest grossing titles in consumer spending for the year. Additionally, the genres of strategy, MMORPG, and RPGs were the highest earning genres.
The report also provided some demographic insight into mobile audiences. In the US, France, and Japan, female consumers are more likely to play match titles such as Candy Crush Saga, whereas their male identifying counterparts generally play more strategy games like Clash Royale in the US.
Consumer spending is still outpaced by the money generated by advertising, with total spend in this space at $295 billion across all apps. That's a 23% increase year-on-year, showing growth despite Apple's changes to privacy and IDFA tracking.
Advertising spend is estimated to pass $350 billion in 2022.